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It’s been a relatively quiet week for tech as everyone eagerly awaits Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event.
The February 1 live stream is expected to signal the launch of the flagship Galaxy S23. This caused the web to be flooded with rumors of what the new phone might look like and what specs it might come with ahead of the announcement.
However, that doesn’t mean this week has been completely devoid of news. As always, we’ve rounded up some of the best and worst titles we’ve come across in tech this week.
Winner: WhatsApp
Our winner this week is WhatsApp after it was revealed that the company was testing a nifty new photo-sharing option on its Android app.
The new setting is an upgrade to WhatsApp’s picture messaging feature that will allow you to transfer photos in their full original quality through the app. This means there is no longer any need to compress images when sharing them with friends and family.
WABetaInfo has spotted the “Original” photo quality option in the latest beta version of the Android WhatsApp app.
Until now, users were forced to stick with Best, Auto, and Data Saver options when transferring images, none of which allowed the file to be sent unchanged.
This update will be a game-changer for users who want to use the app to transfer anything from professional product images to vacation snaps or photos of their cat, providing a more convenient all-in-one alternative to a cloud storage service like Google Drive. or Dropbox.
Of course, WhatsApp is not the first messaging service to allow its users to transfer images in full quality. The option to send media in the original format has been available on Viber for some time and Telegram also offers users the option to send images without compression.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that WhatsApp is easily one of the most popular messaging apps in the UK. This new feature could make it much more convenient for many to send high-quality snaps to their messaging platform of choice, that is, if it’s past the beta stage.
Loser: Amazon
At this point, winners and losers are no strangers to unfortunate price rises and it looks like another one has emerged as January draws to a close.
This time it’s Amazon’s turn as the retail giant has hiked the prices of its Music Unlimited plans in the US and UK.
Starting next month, the price of Amazon Music Unlimited will drop from $9.99/£8.99 to $10.99/£9.99 per month for individuals and $4.99/£3.99 at $5.99/£4.99 per month for students.
It might only be a $1/£1 difference, but it does a lot to close the gap between Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music, meaning the former is no longer a viable way to save. silver in the US and only £1 cheaper in Britain.
Likewise, Spotify is now the most affordable option for students in the US and only a pound on the two Amazon Music Unlimited plans here in the UK.
Of course, if you’re a Prime subscriber, you’ll still save an extra $1/£1 on top of Amazon’s updated prices, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this increase causes many Amazon Music users to put back in question their loyalty to the platform – especially with so little between it, Spotify and Apple Music, even for Prime members.
For those who prefer Amazon’s competitors’ user interface, music selection, or podcast roster, this might be an easy reason to ditch Unlimited.
Not only that, but the cost-of-living crisis has no doubt prompted many households to rethink their streaming subscriptions in early 2023. We’ll have to wait and see if Amazon Music Unlimited makes the cut for many or its streaming base. ‘users sees a visible decline in response to this price increase.
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